We see a lot of these, they're much more common than the common swallowtail. Called le flambé in French the caterpillars feed on blackthorn and fruit trees and there are plenty of those around.

   

I've just rescued a load of broken slates from a client's house that is being re-roofed and MrPP reckons he can cut/break them into strips to make labels. None of the pens or pencils I have work on them (or at least is visible!) and chalk won't survive long (they are labels for permanent plants) so I wondered what else I could use? 
Happy Easter!

I found this very interesting.

https://youtu.be/Xs5TLaByfbk

I'm starting to come round to this Fella's way of thinking..

I received some plug plants by post today, they are ivy leaf geranium, the plants look ok, I know that you are supposed to plant them in there retaining net, and with the ones I got today the retainer looked like a bit of fleece like material, in the past I had planted them as directed but at the end of the season most of the roots were still retained in the net so I now remove the net before planting, now thinking I should have left a couple to see if what is used nowadays rots away, also wondering what others do

Evening Folks

As some of you may remember from previous posts I've been layering my beds with whatever I can get for free(grass, cardboard, leaves), plus manure and compost that was bought.

Anyway, the grass clippings my friend has provided this time are about 60/40 moss/grass, I've used this as a layer without really knowing if this is suitable or not, what do you folks think?

It's probably worth telling you the order which is cardboard, grass/moss, and leaves. I will then put a thin layer of MPC on the top when I plant/sow.

Thank you....

I want to buy an oil sprayer/mister to mist frying pans etc.  Not too expensive, (you know me, I don't spend lots of  money if I don't have to). The web is full of different types, mostly from China and I suspect their robustness.  I was wondering if any of you brilliant cooks out there had any favourite to recommend. At the moment I buy the preloaded unrefillable ones from the supermarket.

I mentioned on the NOMAD thread that I'd picked some Daylily leaves to eat and JJB was curious.

Hemerocallis/Day lilies are practically 100% edible - leaves, flowers and roots. I have eaten them at all stages, though I wouldn't eat the roots again as I don't like "killing" a perennial plant for its roots.  Don't remember being very impressed with them anyway!! They're in my "only if starving" category.

Please don't eat anything unusual unless you are 100% sure you know what it is - these are NOT lilies, some of which are poisonous to humans, cats and dogs! Research it first before you try.

On a more general note, I'm trying to grow more edible flowers in the garden - to me that would be the best of all worlds - beautiful and edible.
If there are any flowers that you regularly eat, please tell us about them.

Firstly apologies this is a ridiculous question     .

Can I save seeds from this red drumhead cabbage?

   

2 reasons for the stupid question.
 1 the flowers are more like side shoots coming from the neck rather than a flower spike coming from the centre of the head.
 2 real seeds on there seed saving page say save from 20 different individuals! I don’t have space to grow 20 red cabbage just for seed saving!

You expect to find the odd daffodil and snowdrop whilst walking in the woods with the dog, but I was surprised to see a tulip as well today. Well off the beaten track so no idea how it got there. It looked so incongruous, I had to take a photo (not a very good one I'm afraid).

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I just had to share....sons chillies growing in his student house. The ones with fruits was left to its own devices over xmas

You may be able to spy his new ones started off in a broken kettle  to the left? 

Well on his way to having green fingers. #proud Mum